Latest ONSW News
Did you know that you can donate money to orienteering – and claim it as a tax deduction?
Orienteering Australia and some of our elite athletes have a range of fundraising projects for you to choose from. Many of these projects aim to help offset the high costs of our senior and junior elites representing Australia overseas. Information on the various projects can be found here.
The countdown to the end of financial year is now moving fast, with June 30 just around the corner, and OA is continuing its fundraising partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation to allow tax-deductible donations.
Every donation counts, no matter how small, but they must be made by June 30 to include in your 2017-18 tax return.
While on the topic of fundraising, if any orienteer is interested in helping with OA’s fundraising by developing and looking after OA’s fundraising ASF projects and working with the athletes to develop their own fundraising, please contact Paul Prudhoe (
Central Coast delivered a fantastic QB III carnival in the Clandulla area over the long weekend, with almost 300 participants each day enjoying great courses in challenging terrain.
Our Swedish scholar Tuve Moller (SHOO) had a great win in M21A, as did former Bennelonger Marina Iskhakova (ACT) in W21A.
Geoff Lawford, 63, turned back the clock to take out M35A and Andrew Wisniewski (Big Foot) returned from injury to win M45AS thanks to a dominant day 2.
Jenny Bourne (Victoria) was another successful interstate raider, in W55A, while SHOO couple Garry and Sandra Stewart took out the 55AS categories.
The closest winning margin across the three days on the Hard courses was 45 seconds - in M70A, where Bennelong president Terry Bluett knocked off clubmate Steve Flick.
The maps were used at Easter 2014 and the World Masters Games in 2009, and are ideal for big championship events.
Cumulative times are here. Please fill out the very brief Course Setter survey for each day. These provide valuable feedback to setters and controllers, and help determine who wins the Graham Mitchell Trophy.
One of the things we love about our sport is you can do it forever - have a look at the Open Easy results: we had a participant born in 1930, and another born in 2004.
Photo albums from each day can be viewed on the Orienteering Australia Facebook page.
A big thanks to Central Coast and all the other helpers who contributed to a great weekend.
The State League web page has been updated with links to results, Winsplits and Routegadget.
Wow - we are elated (and tired) after a wildly successful second promotional weekend in Port Macquarie.
Monday's third and final event was in the seaside holiday town of Lake Cathie - and we had to print more maps as locals turned up in droves from 9.30am. We had 57 entries and 154 participants - taking the long weekend total above 300!
Some people did all 3 days, and it was great to see so many families out, along with the League of Kilted Gentlemen (pictured) once more. This course was 7.5km for the lot, longer than Saturday and Sunday, but flatter.
A big thank you to these locals: Matt Bell and Peter Langran for map/course checking prior to our visit, Jenny Friend for helping on all three days, Hastings Valley Netball for use of their clubhouse, Port Macquarie Hastings Council for their co-operation, Margret and Denis from the Koala Festival for their cross-promotions.
We enjoyed two great new beachside maps by Dave Lotty and Rebecca George, and last but not least, hats off for a mountain of work beforehand by ONSW staffers Jim Mackay and Ian Jessup, and in Port by Colin Burnett, Diane Bergen and Ian.
We'll be in touch with the Port people soon about the next steps - there is lots of interest and impetus to form a club. You are welcome at any O event anywhere. Sleep well!
Results and maps from all 3 days are here.
ONSW is returning to Port Macquarie this weekend as part of a federal government grant to take orienteering to new areas.
The locals loved our initial foray last November and wanted more, so we're putting on another three FREE events this Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Dave Lotty and Rebecca George have produced two new beachside maps, and we'll reuse the Town Beach map on Sunday to coincide with Port's annual Koala Festival.
Colin Burnett, Dianne Bergen and Ian Jessup will be on deck to spread the word.
After Port Macquarie we're back to northern Sydney for another round of FREE taster events on Jun 30, Jul 8 and Jul 21.
We still need a SportIdent person for Jul 8. Email
If you have friends in these areas, please let them know about the events. They all have the standard Sydney Summer Series format, with course lengths around 7.5km for all 30 controls. Navigation is Easy standard.
Click here for full details of the 2018 program.
